Map of Tour de France 2011 courtesy of organisers
Ever since it began in 1903, the annual Tour de France cycle race has been a spectacle that engages everyone in France. Cycling is a very popular sport here and who wears the prestigious maillot jaune (yellow jersey) of fastest rider is a hot topic in...

The event?
Paris’s annual Fête de la Musique – held every 21 June and now in its 30th year
The scene?
Everywhere, but I concentrated on Canal Saint-Martin area in the 10th arrondissement
The atmosphere?
Balmy – the forecast rain held off
Barmy – those crazy Parisians know how to party
Where...

Will Bastille Day, usually known in France as le quatorze juillet (14 July) see you up bright and early at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arc de Triomphe, waiting for the start of the military parade down the Champs-Elysées? Or will you be nursing a hangover and sore toes after dancing in the street...

Summer in the city can leave you needing more than an ice-cream to cool down – especially if you have been slogging round the must-see sights. As the sun beats down on the roofs of Paris and crisps the leaves of the horse-chestnut trees in the Jardin du Luxembourg, the beaches of Paris Plages appear...

On the heights of la Butte Montmartre (the hill of Montmartre), opposite the celebrated cabaret Le Lapin Agile, you’ll find a remnant of the times when Paris was much smaller than it is today and stretched little further than the banks of the Seine. It is a tiny vineyard, whose grapes are still harvested...

What’s happening?
On the night of Tuesday 21 June, it’s France’s 30th annual Fête de la Musique. In Paris and all over the country, choirs, orchestras, Andean flute players and scruffy indy kids will be striking a chord or several and providing free entertainment for anyone who wants it.
What...

You may have difficulty finding a taxi today (Wednesday 25 May 2011). The newspaper Le Parisien reported this morning that three of the largest taxi companies have called for a “national day of action” to protest against rising fuel prices and taxes. The action is expected to affect taxi services...

Tomorrow, Saturday 14 May, for one night only, nearly all of the museums in Paris will be open late, mostly until midnight, celebrating the annual European Museums Night. As well as keeping their doors open way past their usual bedtime for visits to their regular collections and their temporary exhibitions,...